Improvement in baggage-checks



l UNITED STATES' PATENT OFFICE.

WILLIAM D. RICHARDSON, OF SPRINGFIELD, ILLINOIS.

IMPROVEMENT AIN B AeeAGE-CHECKS.

Specification forming part ol Letters Patent No. 40,186, dated October G, 1863.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, W ILLIAM D. RICHARD- soN, of Springfield, in the county otSangamon, in the State Aot Illinois, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in the Means of Checking Baggage and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the same, sufficiently in detail to enable those skilled in the branches of the art to which it pertains or is most nearly related to understand and use the invention. The accompanying' drawings form a partof this specilication. Y I

Figure l is a front view of the entire checkholder and check and` strap, with the exception ot' that part of the strap which is attached to the piece of baggage, that part of the strap vbeing constructed and used precisely as in ordinary cases with common checks. Fig. 2'is a section on the line S S in Fig. vl. Fig. 3l is an edge view of the same parts shown in Fig. 1. Fig. 4 is a back or rear viewot' the same. Fig. 5 is a top view of the parts represented by Figs. l, 2, and 3. Fig. 6 is a front View of` the check alone.

Similar letters of reference indicate like parts in all the tigures.

My invention relates to the useof cheek-' cards within check-holders, and involves an improvementin both the cards and the holders. Q It is intended to reduce the first costfor.

ychecks required to transact a given amount of business and to allow the cliecklng andre-i cording ot baggage to be conducted with less oftice-xtures and less trouble, and with greater certainty.

The common method of checking requires, in addition to the distinction by numbering between each individual check and the others,

a set of checks specially adapted for use betant to be mentioned in the railway-gnides. In order to check lbaggage between all the stations 011 the old system, the Albany office must keep titty-two sets of checks-to wit, Albany to Troy, Albany to Schenectady&c.; and each of the way-stations must also keep titty-two entirelydistinct sets-to Wit, Fonda to Palatine Bridge, Fonda to Fort Plain, Ste. .Thus lifty-two times ftytwo, or two thousand seven hundred and two separate sets ot' checks, are required in order to check baggage between all the stations on the New York Central Railroad, and a sufcient number of each set must be provided to accommodate the maximum travel between those stations. Checks of metal alone are ordinarily used for .this purpose, each check being lettered to indicate the proper movement desired. The great number ot' sets of diiierent checks `rcquired with this system is objectionable.- Under the system ot' miney now to be described, only. fifty-two sets of printed checks or checkeards are required for a road having titty-two stations, while with the old system two thousand seven hundred and four sets are required t'or the same road and the same business.

One portion of my Ainvention relates to the simplification ofthe checking system by a new construction. Another portion of my invention of check-card relates to an improved arrangement ot the check-holder and strap, relatively to the check-card, whereby the checkcards are mounted in the check-holders more securely than heretofore.

To enable others skilled in the art to make andnse my invention, I will proceed to describe it by reference` to the accompanying drawings and by the aid of the letters marked thereon. y

M is a piece ot' card or stiff paper printed at the top with the name of the station from which baggage is to be sent, and with the Word To7 added or understood. Below this I print the names of all the stations on the road, provided it can be conveniently done; but it there are many stations I prefer to designate them by numbers instead of names, because numbers occupy less space on the card. The agent or baggagemaster in checking a piece of baggage holds a suitable punch and punches the card or paper, as indicated at m in Figs. l and 6. This punched hole by its location indicates the place to which the baggage is checked. I can easily designate one hundred or more distinct stations by such means on a card of the size represented. There should be one and only one set of cards for such station from which baggage is checked. Thus, on the New York Central Railroad, the Albany oiice should be supplied with one set of checks, all distinctively numbered of course with large and plain figures to distinguish each check from the other checks in the set, but otherwise all alike, and all headed Albany to, while the Rome otlice should be supplied with another set headed Rome to.77 All the sets of checks contain the numbers which indicate all the other stations, and it is no objection if the number indicating' the station itself from which thebaggage starts also appears, although it will of course never be used.

In the drawings, No. 14 is the number punched, and consequently the station indicated by 14 is that to which the baggage is checked. It the next passenger who applies wishes his baggage checked toy Amsterdam, and thatis No. 5, the operator punches another card at the figure 5, and inserts it in a checkholder and suspends itto the baggage, where it serves to indicate Albany to 5,just as plainly as the one in the drawings indicates Albany to77 14. In each case of course the passenger receives a similar card similarly punched, and at the end ot' the journey both cards may be applied together and laid away in any convenient manner to be used as a proof ot' the completeness ot the transaction. In each case the heading shows the office from which the baggage started and the location ot' the punch mark show s to what place it was i carried just as plainly as if the card only contained that word or number. The presence of the other marks or numbers vto designate the other stations interferes in no wise with the completeness of the designation in any case, while it allows the same kind of card to be used instead of the titty-two kinds required by the old system.

I will now describe my check-holder or check-carrier.

A represents the fronty piece, which is open to exhibit the printed part ot' the card or check proper 5 and B represents a back plate, which is riveted to A by the rivets b, as represented. The strap Gis secured permanently to the base ot the check-holder A B, and is connected to the top thereof-by slipped in and the strap C again passed through the hole a and attached to the baggage. The card is now certainly held until the strap is again pulled from the hole a.

Ditterent punches or other equivalent markers may, it' preferred, be used by different baggage-men to distinguish who checked any given piece of baggage or the train for which it was intended.

I do not confine myself to the specilic construction of check-holder represented by A B in the drawings. The rivets b may be dispensed with and any other mode of fastening adopted, or, by a proper bending of the metal, or of any other material of which it may be made, the whole checkholdcr may be produced in one piece.

'^ The back part, B, may be carried up to the same height as the front piece, A, and the stra p C passed through a hole, a, in both, as in Fig. 2, or the back part may be terminated lower, asin Fig. 3, as preferred. Fig. 2 shows the form which I consider safest.

Having now fully described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is as follows:

1. As an improvement in the means ot' checking baggage, the denoting on two sets of pieces of cheap material many stations, and designating by the locality ofthe punch-mark on' each piece the station at which the baggage is to be left, substantially in the manner and. for the purpose herein set forth.

2. In the construction and use of baggage checks, the within-described arrangement of the check-cardM, check-holder A B, strap C, and hole a, relatively to the check-card M, or

W. D. RICHARDSON.

'Witnesses E. L. Gnoss, L. B. ADAMS. 

